It’s dark, about 8:30 at night and after three and a half hours of back and forth, see-saw tennis, I have match point.
It’s the semis of the NJ Red Clay State 35s at Arlington Players Club in Kearny. This is my seventh match vs Steve, we haven’t played in six years. I won all six of our previous matches with the last three being hard fought, just like this one.
I won the first set 63, he won the second 6-4, and he’s serving at 4-5 15-40. On the first match point I had a backhand cross court but I put it in the top of the net. Was it the darkness affecting the shot? Or the fact I popped a string in my Wilson Burn and opted to use the lighter Head TiS1 which doesn’t have the same power? Why didn’t I use my Volkl?
On the second match point, I played defense and let him take control, too afraid to attack his mediocre serve. I never felt comfortable attacking it, either the spin or his passing shots and lobs deterred my aggression.
He ended up taking the game for 5-5 and broke me at love for 6-5. I halted the match because it was too dark. Playing at night is always trouble for my contact lensed eyes, just can’t see the ball perfectly and gauge when to time it. In dark conditions or night play I tend to just hit the ball without putting anything extra on it.
So the tournament director agrees to have us finish it on Saturday morning at 9, with the winner going to the final at 10. With two days to ponder the situation, I decide to keep playing defensive. I have to win the first point or one of the first two.
I arrive early and get lucky to hit with the very good player I beat in the first match, Dave. Dave beat Steve last year 1 and 2 and I just beat Dave 75 75. I hit well with Dave and feel ready but once the match resumes, the defensive option doesn’t work.
Steve hits a winner on point one after a short rally after I feed him an easy one. Then the second point I try a slice up the line but it catches the net and comes back. Love-30. Then the next two points are easy for him too. From having match points, I lose TEN points in a row!
But I don’t feel too bad. He earned it. And that’s what I tell him, Great play, you really earned it. I don’t feel too bad for blowing match points in the dark, I feel impressed by how well he did, to save match points and finally beat the guy he had never beaten before. He really kept his head together and fought through an incredible match. I wish I could have put up a better fight at the end but he didn’t let me, he got on a roll and carried it over two days later.
Moskova Moskova · June 19, 2018 at 3:08 pm
scoop : u pansy !! lol
just joking….it happens – tough to get amped up for a player who’s never beaten you, etc.
catherine · June 20, 2018 at 3:51 am
Scoop – while you’re relaxing after that match you could catch up with the latest tennis novel – ‘A Weekend in New York’ by Benjamin Markovits. I haven’t read it although I’ve read of couple of his other books – he did a basketball memoir, Playing Days, among other fiction.
(BTW – I suspect you felt good because although you were beaten, for various reasons you didn’t see this as a complete failure, maybe because you participated in the other guy’s win in some way. So you allowed yourself that sense of uplift. Something like that)
Scoop Malinowski · June 20, 2018 at 8:04 am
Catherine, I’m currently reading a book about the work of the artist Al Hirschfield and all his wonderful drawings and caricatures which are amazing if you never saw his work, check it out. Have never heard of this book by BM, what is it about?
catherine · June 20, 2018 at 9:39 am
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/19/benjamin-markovits-weekend-in-new-york-review
I’ll have a look at Al Hirschfield’s art – thanks for the tip.
BM’s book just out – should be in the shops or on Amazon. I’ll try to get a copy from my library.
Dan Markowitz · June 20, 2018 at 9:52 am
Scoop,
It’s still pretty amazing you’re playing in the 35’s of these events. Sounds like you just hit a cold patch else you would’ve kept your undefeated streak against this opponent alive.
Scoop Malinowski · June 20, 2018 at 11:02 am
Something similar happened two years ago. I played a 6-8 Czech guy Marek in Longboat Key once a week, I won the first two easily but he found his old form and then the matches became dog fights. I mean, every single point every game, every set was a war of attrition, we both had to hit ten balls minimum to probe and set up the error. Like no free points. We were fighting so hard every ball, every set, every match, every week. One time there was a guy next to us who quipped, “Are you guys playing for a million bucks?” It looked and felt that way. We both wanted to win. I always won, some 64 in third or that range. Finally one day, after he hit with a 6.0 in Tampa, He won the first, I won the second and I was up 3-0 in the third. Another close epic. But then I lost six straight games. Something went out. I didn’t want it as much as he did. And a part of me felt guilty about trying to beat him again for like the 15th time in a row. I mean, he was in agony so many times in our matches, he suffered so much, all those losses and he deserved to win about half of them for how well he played. So he won this time. But then I won the next match 64 63 to regain the mental edge. I never lost to him again. He hurt his back and we didn’t play this past year.
Duke Carnoustie · June 20, 2018 at 2:45 pm
Scoop,
I didn’t realize you were only 35. No wonder you are playing so great. You still have plenty of great tennis left at that age.
Scoop Malinowski · June 20, 2018 at 5:12 pm
Duke, thank you, I started getting younger several years ago I think it’s the chocolate I eat :0